Today's notes: Lest there be an uproar

Context:

What is man believing and doing:

Something has to immediately be done about Jesus. They have tried before, this time it just has to be done.

assembling and consulting of the Jewish leaders for the purpose of capturing and killing an enemy of Israel subtly

(implied) perhaps that they could work this into Rome doing what they themselves lawfully could not do (by Roman law)

being cautious of public outcry if performed on the Passover Feast

putting the high priest in a palace and the Son of God in a grave

What is making man to believe/do as he is:

The weight of their expectation/insult exceeds the weight of His further possibility. Their expectation is that the Christ will be a political/religious leader like no other that will come restore Israel to her former glory and beyond; that there will be no question as to who this is because God will stand with Him in this very manner. In order to do that this type of leader would also require the support and strength of the nation which Jesus appears only to be dividing and jeopardizing. He certainly does not have their support, not after everything that He has called them and presented them as being.

They do not know God nor God's will therefore they know not God's Son. Jesus is claiming to be God and saying that the temple will be destroyed, both to them naturally is blasphemy. They do not believe either is true or remotely possible. Even though He does many wondrous works, these can be attributed to Satan.

"Thou shall not murder" by oral tradition does not apply to enemies of the temple/state (I do believe that they could even lie and bare false witness legally in this case, which they do). Blasphemy too is punishable by death. Both being determined the question becomes how best to accomplish this plan without it back firing and Rome stepping in against them.

(I believe following an recent massacre on the temple steps the intended message has been delivered by Pilate and Herod for these leaders to take care of business or else the state will).

Notes:

Key Messages:

What does this say about our present condition?

If Jewish leaders are right? In context?

The Law and Oral traditions will have survived perhaps their greatest challenge and that in perhaps their weakest hour; this decades away from their Temple being utterly destroyed and the nation being dispersed abroad for nearly two thousand more years. That the previous sins of their fathers killing God's prophets off have somewhat been atoned for by them killing off the greatest of the false prophets. The human influences that would have made them judge differently have for once have been staved off at least in part by the purer foundations of the oral traditions and interpreted Law.

If Jesus is right? In context?

By our own resource, even the higher more formalized forms, man cannot in this present condition know God and thereby presume to act on God's behalf unless God Himself reveals Himself to us. In order for God to reveal Himself adequately/convincingly to us, He first must reveal our own true nature by it's very thoughts and intents; and that unfortunately means that part of Him has to die now just as He has been dead to us all along in our conscience. There is too much stray influence in the human heart even with the spiritual elements of His law, His covenant, His shown mercy/deliverance, His promise land, His many national signs/wonders, His patience/providence, His election, His Temple, His stern rebukes, our better intentions/traditions/ritualism/zealous devotion for it to operate towards it's own/God's best spiritual interest; it will always work against it. It has been proven throughout the entire history of Israel and mankind, it will continue to be proved till the end, the ultimate proof of this condition is in what they are about to do to Jesus.